Leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait, on Sunday said farmer unions were ready to continue talks with the Centre, contending that the discussion would be about revoking the new farm laws.
He said there is no question of farmers returning to their homes from the protest sites until their demands are met.
Tikait said the Samyukta Kisan Morcha would talk when the government wants to talk, contending that it has to be about revoking the Centre’s new farm bill.
On Friday, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of about 40 protesting farmer unions, wrote to the prime minister to continue talks over the three farm laws they had been agitating against since November last year.
Even after several rounds of talks between farmers and the Centre, the stalemate to break over the three central laws has failed.
On January 22, a government panel had met farmer’s leaders. But since January 26, there have been no talks between the two sides after the farmers’ tractor rally turned violent in the national capital.
Tikait stated that May 26 would mark six months of the farmers’ protest at Delhi borders.
He added that farmers have been protesting at border points for six months, but the government is not listening.
On Sunday, twelve vital opposition parties, such as the Congress, TMC, Left parties, SP, NCP, and the DMK, have extended their support to a countrywide protest call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on May 26.
Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni said farmers in huge numbers from the Karnal district left for the Singhu border on Sunday, as farmers will be observing May 26 as “black day” to mark six months of their protest.
Since November 2020, farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders, demanding that the Farmers” Produce Trade and Commerce Act, 2020, Farmers” Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities Act, 2020 be turned back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price for crops.
However, the government has observed the three central laws as pro-farmer.
